[Rant] Do editing/proofreading errors drive you mad, too?

[Seonaid]

I don't think it's too much to ask of an editor who wants to edit gaming products. It's my opinion that if you're working in a creative capacity within a game company you should have at least some familiarity with the rules your company produces, even if (like me) your personal skill focus is more along the lines of traditional copyediting. Yes, I'm a fairly decent copyeditor, but I also have a fairly strong knowledge of the rules (at least in a general sense, if nothing else). I can break down a stat block and find errors within it, but there are others here at Paizo who can do that more accurately and more quickly than me, so I focus on the English stuff.

I definitely think someone intimately familiar with stat blocks should look at every single one that goes into a product, yes. I also feel that every other editor attached to the product should also look at the stat blocks, though, because even experts sometimes overlook things (sometimes things as "obvious" as misspelled words). The statblock editor needs to have other editing skills, though, or else I suspect he'd spend a lot of time at work bored. I don't know about your company, but Paizo doesn't put out enough stat blocks in a month to justify the cost of having one editor whose entire job is to edit stat blocks. :\

Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but if being able to edit stat blocks was a requirement for editors of gaming materials, I wouldn't be doing any editing in the field. I am an excellent editor, but I have no head for the crunchy bits. I've been playing (for example) 3.x steadily for the past 7 years, and still can't make a first-level fighter (also for example ) without referencing the PHB about fifteen times. There's no way that I can effectively edit a stat block, unless it's for general things like making sure "STR," "DEX," and "CON" are spelled correctly (again, frex).

I wholeheartedly endorse the idea of someone who is good with stat blocks to look over them all (assuming s/he didn't write them). And you definitely don't need someone to do just that--as long as the people who are best at finding stat block mistakes look over everything before it's sent out, you should be fine. Right?

 

[Cam Banks]

So, I hope that answers your questions. I have a feeling I might have misunderstood one or more of them, though, and if that's the case please feel free to gently tease me.

No, your thoughts pretty much line up with my own. With such job titles as developer, writer, designer, editor, and proofreader included on a lot of products these days, I'm often left wondering how each company decides to parcel out that workload when it comes to such crunchy elements like stat blocks.

And I just got onto this gig full-time, having spent years as a freelancer, so I think the gentle teasing is traditionally aimed at the New Guy.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Cam Banks]

I wholeheartedly endorse the idea of someone who is good with stat blocks to look over them all (assuming s/he didn't write them). And you definitely don't need someone to do just that--as long as the people who are best at finding stat block mistakes look over everything before it's sent out, you should be fine. Right?

Quite apart from the math and rulesy corrections, one of my big beefs with stat blocks and other chunks of game mechanic content is people who don't get the format or style right.

For d20, or D&D in particular, I try to be as current as possible with those conventions. Spell names aren't in Title Case, size categories are, WotC seems to have dropped the colon off the face of the Earth at some stage, and so forth. I can't believe how anal I've become about that kind of thing. It leaps right out at me when somebody writes "Joe Dude (LG medium elven 10th Fighter, 5th Ranger) casts Magic Missile for 6D4 points of damage."

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Seonaid]

Quite apart from the math and rulesy corrections, one of my big beefs with stat blocks and other chunks of game mechanic content is people who don't get the format or style right.

Interesting. I've never edited any stat blocks (heh), so I've never noticed that kind of thing. I'm sure that if I was editing something like that, I'd make sure it was at least internally consistent. That being said, are those things you mentioned industry-wide conventions, or individual styles?

Edit: Actually, when I edit documents with stat blocks, I do check for internal consistency. I have in the past and will continue to do so. However, like I said, I only check for consistency within the document (or the publisher's body of works, if I have access to more than what I'm working on at the moment). It would be interesting to know if there is a "generally accepted" way of doing things. I imagine that most publishers have their own ways and (try to) stick with them without considering what other publishers are doing, but I could be wrong.

 

[MKMcArtor]

Interesting. I've never edited any stat blocks (heh), so I've never noticed that kind of thing. I'm sure that if I was editing something like that, I'd make sure it was at least internally consistent. That being said, are those things you mentioned industry-wide conventions, or individual styles?

There's the Wizards of the Coast way of doing things (which sometimes changes with every new book that comes out, much to the sorrow of editors). It's in a company's best interest to create a stat block format that looks similar to the Wizards of the Coast way, or else said company runs the risk of losing sales because its products don't mesh with the most popular fantasy roleplaying game. It seems to me that most companies aim for "different, but not too different."

 

[MKMcArtor]

And I just got onto this gig full-time, having spent years as a freelancer, so I think the gentle teasing is traditionally aimed at the New Guy.

Oh pish posh. You've been in this industry at least as long as I. New Guy, indeed.

 

[Seonaid]

There's the Wizards of the Coast way of doing things (which sometimes changes with every new book that comes out, much to the sorrow of editors). It's in a company's best interest to create a stat block format that looks similar to the Wizards of the Coast way, or else said company runs the risk of losing sales because its products don't mesh with the most popular fantasy roleplaying game. It seems to me that most companies aim for "different, but not too different."

Yeah, that makes sense, and I figured it was something like that. That being said, I always appreciate it when publishers make something not like WotC (assuming it's better) because it means they aren't corporate drones of Hasbro (sigh). But that's another rant entirely.

As for WotC changing their style guide with every new book: WTF? Don't they have enough money to pay editors? Is it possible they don't even HAVE a style guide? Grr . . .

 

[Cam Banks]

Oh pish posh. You've been in this industry at least as long as I. New Guy, indeed.

Curses! Foiled again!

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Cam Banks]

As for WotC changing their style guide with every new book: WTF? Don't they have enough money to pay editors? Is it possible they don't even HAVE a style guide? Grr . . .

Hey, it keeps us on our toes! And it gives me a new thing every month or two to get anal about.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Mark CMG]

I'm pretty sure I could hear Justin Achilli screaming all the way from Atlanta.

It's those bat ears.